The Witcher 2 - Choice and Combat @ IGN

February 25th, 2011, 21:47

IGN has a short Witcher 2 preview titled Choice and Combat. The "choice" part doesn't reveal much and they focus on the combat changes:

Perhaps most noticeably different is the combat, which has been completely redone. Gone are the times of squinting at an onscreen icon to determine when to trigger follow up attacks for combos. The Witcher 2 plays more like an action game than an action-turn based hybrid — which is a good thing. Geralt can be customized with a mix of sword, magical and alchemy skills. You can't acquire every skill, though, so you have to either take a balanced approach and spread out upgrade points across each category, or dump a majority into one. If you happen to max out the sword skill line, for instance, group finishing moves can be unlocked. For magic a new magical sign is unlocked that lets you slow time. And for alchemists who'd rather quaff potions than slash swords or discharge magic, a berserk skill is unlocked toward the end of the tree. According to CD Projekt, pursuing only one tree is a viable way to get through the story, though I would assume doing so would leave Geralt particularly vulnerable in a few key areas.

Most of the previewers thus far have revealed their total ignorance about the Witcher.
Everyone suddenly comes out of the closet screaming "I loved the Witcher way before it was cool!". Except they clearly didn't…

Joystiq:
"played a few minigames, including a "poker dice" game"
(yeah that clearly requires parentheses, it's so "fresh" and "out of norm" )
"Geralt the witch hunter resumes…"
(yes, the whole Act 1 culmination of Witcher 1 just passed them by. But some of them may indeed have been witch hunters. Poor Abigail.)
"a young man named Ele'yas"
(despite having pointy ears and living ten times a man's age. And his name is clearly human, yep.)
"enemies react more appropriately to your attacks"
(the assumption is, in Witcher 1 they didn't. Yeah. That was the problem with its combat )
"you have a variety of Witcher magic ("signs" that can be assigned to hotkeys on the fly)"
(pure ignorance. Yes, that's a "Variety" of Witcher magic (!), and "signs" in parentheses…)
"linked to a poet named Master Dandelion"
(even though in the books and throughout the first game there's been really just one and one only poet, a central figure to most plotlines and basically the humanizing element, necessary for almost all juxtaposition of Geralt's moral code (i.e. fake Witcher code) vs. reality vs. inhumanity of the witchers in general. But yeah. "A" poet named Dandelion.)

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Since 95% of gaming journalists are console gamers who grew up on Mario games it's not really surprising they are pretending they played the Withcher. Kotaku actually had some interesting articles during a "PC gaming week" special they ran where every Kotaku writer stated their PC gaming experience… only one of them was a PC gamer at all and even he said he plays mostly on consoles now.

What, exactly, indicates that they haven't played it? All I see is indication that they may not have read the books. Then again, neither did I, so I can't make a fuss about that.

Also, I have no problems with someone calling a male elf "young man". Not sure what else to call a young male elf - "young male elf" sounds silly and too long if you're directly addressing someone, and "young melf" sounds even worse. "Young male" perhaps, as a generalization across races?

Good points. However, this is not the only problem here; Dandelion is simply not some poet in Witcher — he has been absolutely pivotal in Witcher 1 (the game). Geralt is NOT witch hunter, he is a monster hunter, slayer, etc.. Witcher doesn't mean he has anything to do with witches. Witcher Signs have been established pretty firmly (the name, the idea of Witcher magics as such, usable Signs) in the game (aside from book lore). To use parentheses here is more or less like saying something like this about, say, Jedi Knight:
"Kyle Katarn uses "the Force", a type of Jedi magic"
It might be ok for a complete "blank slate" approach, say, if you have never had any exposure to any Star Wars media. The Witcher 2 is a second instalment. By now, Witcher Signs should be acknowlegded in a continuity, not as newly introduced element. Usage of parentheses is also confusing here; why would it be "dice poker" and not dice poker; is there some ambiguity or an unusual concept here? No, Witcher 1 had dice poker as a prominent element of the game, tied-in with a variety of quests.

Those are just some examples. There's more though; read RPS's "Hands on with a Succubus" and tell me what is the dwarven city called in Witcher 2? Cause I can't definitively answer that basing on the recent slew of previews. Some say it's Vergen, others say Vergan, one Russian preview said "Verden" (Верден)… Tiny details and they hardly really matter, but it shows the relative sloppiness of the previewers. Especially when dealing with a rich and established lore, or with a developer that goes out of their way to showcase the game and clarify everything that needs clarifying.

Originally Posted by Propheet
Good points. However, this is not the only problem here; Dandelion is simply not some poet in Witcher — he has been absolutely pivotal in Witcher 1 (the game). Geralt is NOT witch hunter, he is a monster hunter, slayer, etc.. Witcher doesn't mean he has anything to do with witches. Witcher Signs have been established pretty firmly (the name, the idea of Witcher magics as such, usable Signs) in the game (aside from book lore). To use parentheses here is more or less like saying something like this about, say, Jedi Knight:
"Kyle Katarn uses "the Force", a type of Jedi magic"
It might be ok for a complete "blank slate" approach, say, if you have never had any exposure to any Star Wars media. The Witcher 2 is a second instalment. By now, Witcher Signs should be acknowlegded in a continuity, not as newly introduced element. Usage of parentheses is also confusing here; why would it be "dice poker" and not dice poker; is there some ambiguity or an unusual concept here? No, Witcher 1 had dice poker as a prominent element of the game, tied-in with a variety of quests.

Those are just some examples. There's more though; read RPS's "Hands on with a Succubus" and tell me what is the dwarven city called in Witcher 2? Cause I can't definitively answer that basing on the recent slew of previews. Some say it's Vergen, others say Vergan, one Russian preview said "Verden" (Верден)… Tiny details and they hardly really matter, but it shows the relative sloppiness of the previewers. Especially when dealing with a rich and established lore, or with a developer that goes out of their way to showcase the game and clarify everything that needs clarifying.

I'm really not sure what you are complaining about here. I understand you have a pretty deep understanding of the game/world. A lot of previewers will not have that experience and you shouldn't be surprised by that.

Originally Posted by Propheet
You're right of course. I guess I find their attitude of the born-again Witcherites a bit hypocritical.

Those are usually the same guys that bashed Witcher 1 after all and then dismissed its post-release development (TW:EE).

The witcher part 1 was interesting, I liked it. I wanted to know more about the lore. I also felt the english version was a bit disjointed. I still have very little idea of the game world other then what is presented in game.

Originally Posted by Propheet
Those are just some examples. There's more though; read RPS's "Hands on with a Succubus" and tell me what is the dwarven city called in Witcher 2? Cause I can't definitively answer that basing on the recent slew of previews. Some say it's Vergen, others say Vergan, one Russian preview said "Verden" (Верден)… Tiny details and they hardly really matter, but it shows the relative sloppiness of the previewers. Especially when dealing with a rich and established lore, or with a developer that goes out of their way to showcase the game and clarify everything that needs clarifying.

I don't think we should apportion any blame for subtle naming differences. Polish does not transliterate to an exact English word all the time, and the names in the first game are noticeably different from the books (which I think themselves are not consistent due to different translators). If I remember rightly the names in the game even changed subtly until very close to release, so preview versions would have different names even. Vizima/Wyzim/Wyzima I'm looking at you…

Witcher 2 makes me want to give first-person RPGs another chance. I've decided to replace my 6-year-old rig before it gives out all on its own and I lose all my data. I bet this game will look ni-i-ice.

Originally Posted by screeg
Witcher 2 makes me want to give first-person RPGs another chance. I've decided to replace my 6-year-old rig before it gives out all on its own and I lose all my data. I bet this game will look ni-i-ice.